"The Blood Door gives hints too?"
Ning Qiushui said, surprised.
Beside him, Bai Xiaoxiao explained:
"Only the first Blood Door doesn't."
"Because for 99.999% of people, the first Blood Door's difficulty is very low. For the ghost to actually kill someone... is pretty hard. In most cases it just gives people a scare—it won't truly act."
She paused, a teasing glint in her eyes, and needled the two of them almost flirtatiously:
"Which is why I said you two have the worst luck alive—running into that kind of ghost on door one, and nearly getting wiped out!"
"After the first door, the second door's difficulty jumps a level—but the Blood Door also grants a correspondingly important clue."
"And then there's the sixth door... but all that can wait."
"The pressing business right now is finding a way to survive door number two."
"And your second door... is no simple thing!"
After Bai Xiaoxiao's patient explanation, the first thing Ning Qiushui did was commit the Blood Door's clue to memory.
"The kind bled themselves dry, and became the sweet rain; the merciful cut off their heads, and bestowed peace; the innocent closed their eyes, begging for the sweet rain and the peace to come..."
A strange clue. And the sound of it... deeply unsettling.
Soon, their time came to enter.
The blood-soaked wooden door was pushed slowly open once more by a deathly pale hand, and the awareness of all three swiftly blurred away...
***
When consciousness returned, Ning Qiushui found himself standing before a huge building.
It was visibly run-down: the two white walls flanking the entrance were webbed with cracks and crawling with damp, foul-smelling moss.
The ground was all rubble and weeds.
On the white wall to the right, painted in red, were the words:
【Rainprayer Village Tour-Group Guesthouse】
"A tour group..."
"So this time, we've been written in as tourists?"
Ning Qiushui looked around. In the large courtyard were fourteen people in all, standing in twos and threes.
Barring surprises, these people were like him—lodge folk from outside the Blood Door.
He soon found Liu Chengfeng and Bai Xiaoxiao.
Only... neither of them looked good.
Ning Qiushui walked over and said quietly:
"What's wrong?"
Bai Xiaoxiao jerked her chin at Liu Chengfeng and drawled:
"Ask him."
Ning Qiushui looked at Liu Chengfeng.
There was sweat on the man's face, and a shimmer of dread in his eyes.
"My spawn point just now was at the foot of the hill behind that stretch of jungle. I meant to follow the signposts through the trees—but right in the heart of the jungle, I saw... a man with no head!"
Ning Qiushui's gaze sharpened slightly.
"You're sure?"
Liu Chengfeng was panting, deep terror welling in his eyes!
"Yes!"
"I'm sure!"
"It... kept walking on ahead, and then..."
As he spoke, his voice began to shake.
"Spit it out—then what?"
Ning Qiushui pressed.
What Liu Chengfeng said next sent a run of ice down Ning Qiushui's spine.
"Then... it blended into the crowd, and disappeared."
Ning Qiushui:
"Disappeared?"
Liu Chengfeng nodded heavily.
"Yes!"
"That headless man... is hiding somewhere in this crowd around us!"
He finished, swept a fear-laden glance around them, and drew a deep breath.
Ning Qiushui turned to Bai Xiaoxiao.
"Sis Bai—your read?"
Bai Xiaoxiao shook her head.
"No need to panic yet. This is only your second door—the ghosts haven't gotten so deranged that they kill the moment they appear!"
"Still... be very careful!"
Just as her voice fell, a middle-aged man's voice came from beyond the courtyard:
"Everyone! So sorry to have kept you waiting so long!"
The people in the clearing turned to look. A plainly dressed, deeply tanned middle-aged man came up before the crowd.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hou Kong, floor manager for the Rainprayer Village travel agency. I'm on duty these next few days—you'll usually find me sitting in the first-floor lobby, so if you have any problems, bring them to me!"
"And if you find this trip a pleasant experience, do put in a good word for us when you get home. Many thanks!"
Smiling as he spoke, he handed out a room key to every person present.
"There's a free canteen next door to the village guesthouse. Once you've eaten your fill, feel free to wander—our Rainprayer Village has quite a few scenic spots of local color..."
"Seven days from now is the village's annual temple rite. The whole village turns out for it, and you're all welcome to join... I know you outsiders don't believe in these things, but a blessing asked is never wasted."
He briefed them on a few simple matters, then led everyone to the guesthouse.
Through the entire process, this manager Hou Kong kept a smile hanging on his face.
It was a thin, faint smile—but somehow, to look at... it was deeply eerie.
One glance at it and Ning Qiushui felt his skin crawl.
"These are your rooms. Power and hot water are on twenty-four hours. The village does have a few rules, and we hope you'll do your best to observe them."
"First: the village has a curfew. From midnight to six in the morning, it's best not to go out."
"Second: the hill behind the village is where the temple stands. With preparations for the rite underway, outsiders aren't permitted near it at present."
"Third: if you encounter anything strange in the village, you can go see Spirit Medium Ruan."
Having said all this, Hou Kong didn't wait to hear whether anyone had questions—he turned and hurried off downstairs.
Through the lobby window, Ning Qiushui watched Hou Kong walk into that dense black jungle... and never come out.
Coming back to himself, he began inspecting his lodgings.
The guesthouse looked shabby—the wooden floors and doors were covered in cracks—but the room itself was reasonably clean.
Ning, Liu, and Bai had been standing together when the keys were handed out, so their rooms were adjacent.
In his room, Ning Qiushui glanced up at the tick-tocking clock overhead.
Three in the afternoon.
Still a while before dinner.
He took a turn about his room. The bed and floor were clean, the walls new and white—but through it all, the air carried a persistent smell of... burning.
As if something, somewhere, had caught fire.
Just then, Ning Qiushui felt a faint warmth in his pocket. He reached in reflexively—it was the blood jade.
Lying in his palm, the blood jade... was giving off a faint red glow!
He knew this sight all too well.
Back in the villa behind the first Blood Door, whenever the red-clothed ghost-woman from the third floor drew near their room, the hanging blood jade had glowed red just like this!
In an instant, Ning Qiushui's whole body drew tight!
Could there be... something unclean in his room?